Dumpster Sit-in For Haiti Raises $6250

February 24, 1986|By Sally Deneen, Staff writer

WEST PALM BEACH — Brother Joe Ranieri wanted to draw pennies from heaven for Haiti, and he did -- along with a little rain, too.

Rain cut about 90 minutes from Ranieri`s four-day fund-raising stay in a dumpster, but enough people dropped off donations to bring in $6,250.55 -- money that will feed ``tens of thousands`` of Haitians, the Catholic deacon said Sunday night.

``Mission accomplished,`` Ranieri said from his home.

The biggest donation: $1,250 from a man who won $5,000 at a local contest. The smallest was a penny from a child. The most surprising, Ranieri said, might have been $15 from a man he hadn`t seen in eight years. The man was a prisoner at a Dade County correctional institution at that time, Ranieri said.

Ranieri spent 16 hours a day in a dumpster near Manero`s Restaurant, 2200 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd. Rain forced him to climb out at about 4 p.m. Sunday, he said. ``I was going to leave at sundown, or when it rained, whichever came first. And the rain came first,`` Ranieri said.